News digest 9 January 2015

News digest 9 January 2015

09 January 2015

Most papers still focus on the aftermath of the Paris attacks, but today’s digest opens with a solidarity march by Unite members at Barbour who are challenging an imposed change to their terms and conditions,. On the fifth day of their month long period of strike action the workers marched this morning to Barbour House to demand the company’s management enters into talks at Acas on Monday in a positive and constructive manner. Unite regional officer Fazia Hussain-Brown said: “Barbour’s actions run contrary to the family values the company says it holds dear. We hope that Dame Barbour listens to the workers’ concerns and ensures that the company’s management enters Monday’s talks in a constructive manner. Workers have shown through their solid support for the strike that they are prepared to stand firm to get a just settlement.” Let’s hope the talks at Acas on Monday are constructive…

And that march actually set off from a local Tesco store, and Tesco also features across the business pages today after the announcement of some 43 store closures, 1,000 job cuts, a pay cap for staff [but not the CEO] and the relocation of the company HQ. The Sun for once hits the nail on the head saying simply: “The workers foot the bill” and nothing could be nearer to the truth. Unite national officer Adrian Jones said: “Our members who deliver day in day out for Tesco, many of whom have done so for a great number of years, are now extremely concerned about their futures. We all know that Tesco’s mantle has wobbled recently but it is deplorable that management are now making the workers pay for failure at the top. This is on the same day that it announces the appointment of another CEO whose remuneration package will be staggeringly high compared with our members.” As ever, the company’s share price soared, but many fail to get that the continued pay squeeze on Britain’s workers will hit high street spending.

Away from business and the top political story remains the crisis in A&Es [oddly health secretary Jeremy Hunt seems to have vanished], there’s also coverage of Ukip being invited to the debates, but prime minister David Cameron now won’t join in because he thinks the Greens have been unfairly excluded [nothing to do with him losing his bottle], and justice secretary Chris Grayling has wasted £72,000 trying to challenge the challenge to his policy on banning books for prisoners. On the Labour front, Labour leader Ed Miliband features in a ‘People’s question time’ while the FT reports on union concerns that the Gagging Act will hit campaigns against government policies and even stop unions talking to their own members, so much for democracy…